When plants in a summer cottage wither, despite their regular watering, there is a high probability that the cause is a mole cricket. The mole cricket is a dangerous pest that can significantly spoil the harvest and destroy perennial plants. This underground resident spoils the roots of young seedlings and adult plants, which leads to their death.
Other names for the mole cricket are cabbage weed, earthen crayfish, spinning top, mole cricket. The insect was nicknamed the mole cricket for its brown color and a certain clumsiness in its movements. Kapustyankoy - because he loves cabbage. Due to the resemblance of the forelimbs to claws, some call this pest earthen crayfish. Spinning top - because young larvae have a grayish tint. Mole cricket - due to the fact that the insect somewhat resembles a mole and chirps at night.
Small holes in the beds, as well as loose mounds of earth, can indicate that a mole cricket lives in the garden. After rain they are visible more clearly. If you dig 15 cm deep into the ground in these traces, you can find laid eggs of pests. Tiny eggs the size of a hemp grain will turn into larvae in 10–17 days, which will also spoil the plants in the garden.
Usually during the day, mole crickets sit in burrows, and in the evening they become active: they make new passages, destroying plant roots along the way.
Finding and destroying a mole cricket is not the easiest task. These insects fly long distances, move on the ground and swim. Their location can be determined by the characteristic sound made in the evening and at night. It resembles the chirping of a grasshopper, only louder. in winter The mole cricket lives in deep layers of the earth or compost heaps. in spring begins to become active and rises closer to the surface. In June the insects mate and then lay 500–600 eggs. During this period, the pest is already clearly present in the garden, as can be seen from the signs described above - tubercles and holes in the soil.
Did you know? Medvedkas are used in pharmaceuticals. These scary-looking insects are considered an effective cure for tuberculosis. Medvedka is also considered effective in the fight against cancer and HIV infections.– its use helps improve immunity. Moreover, not all mole crickets are equally useful: Asian insects are more effective in fighting diseases.
Description and photo of a dangerous pest, what a mole cricket looks like
The mole cricket has a distinctive appearance and is easy to distinguish from other insect pests.
External characteristics of the bear:
- body length ranges from 2 to 5 cm;
- the body is divided into a cephalothorax and an abdomen, which is three times larger than the cephalothorax;
- the head and chest are covered with a thick shell;
- the abdomen at the end has two processes 1 cm long;
- external organs of the head: eyes, mustache, tentacles located around the mouth;
- the forelimbs turned inward have thickened tibiae;
- the hind limbs have four to five spines;
- the wings of the insect are finely scaly, and they are longer than the body;
- The color of the head, chest and abdomen is dark brown, the limbs are light brown.
Manure traps - preventing the appearance of mole crickets
Experienced gardeners know that cabbage grass can be defeated both with improvised means and with chemicals. However, most prefer well-known folk remedies in the fight against mole crickets.
A proven and reliable method of exterminating and preventing the appearance of mole crickets is the use of manure traps. These insects have a passion for fresh manure, so it is used as bait.
Manure traps are usually set up in the fall and spring. In the fall, trapping pits measuring 50*50*50 cm are built, which are then filled with manure. Manure attracts the pest, and it happily settles there for the winter. When a period of constant freezing temperatures sets in, these pit traps are dug and the contents are scattered over the surface of the soil. At this time, mole crickets are in a state of suspended animation, practically immobile and therefore quickly die from the cold.
In the spring, around the beginning of May, mole cricket manure is laid out in small piles around the garden. It is recommended to make these layings frequently and in small sizes - several shovels of manure every 3 m. Such heaps attract cabbageweeds for permanent residence - here they will lay eggs. These masonry can be easily destroyed by regularly checking the heaps for their presence. In this way, the mole cricket population can be significantly reduced.
Pour oil into the hole
Another folk remedy for mole cricket is regular vegetable oil. Having discovered the loosening of the insect on the soil and the passages under them, you can “pour out” it using oil and water.
Important! It is easier to detect mole cricket burrows and passages after watering or rain, since this pest is activated in freshly moistened soil.
When you find a hole, you need to widen the entrance to it with your finger, and then pour oil and water into it. First, it is better to pour in a small amount of water to make sure that it is a mole cricket burrow. Then pour in 7-10 drops of sunflower oil, and after that - a lot of water. Sometimes a bucket of water goes away, especially if the ground is dry. In addition, the burrows of cabbage mushrooms can be very deep.
Since the body of the mole cricket is covered with hairs, water, unlike oil, does not wet it. The oil wets the pest’s body and closes the respiratory tract. As a result, the insect crawls to the surface.
If the body of the mole cricket is well oiled, then after a minute or two it dies. If the oil has not sufficiently moistened the mole cricket, it may crawl away, and in this case, after detection, it is better to crush it.
Did you know? To “pour out” the mole cricket, you can use a soap solution. Soapy water is poured into the insect's holes, after which it crawls out and must be destroyed, or the mole cricket dies inside the hole.
We use Metaphos to combat pests
In addition to folk remedies, there are other methods for dealing with mole crickets in the garden. For these purposes, poisoned baits are used. They are easy to prepare in country conditions, which requires grain and insecticide.
The drug Metaphos, a contact insecticide, helps well in the fight against cabbage weed. Recipe for poisonous bait with Metaphos:
- boil grains of wheat, corn or barley;
- add Metaphos to the porridge in a proportion of 50 g per 1 kg of grain;
- add 30 g of sunflower oil per 1 kg of porridge.
Onion peel infusion - we do without drugs
Not everyone is ready to use chemicals to control pests. For many gardeners, the more natural the method, the better and simpler.
There are methods of combating mole crickets, the effectiveness of which has been proven over the years. One of them is the use of onion peel tincture. The principle of its action is based on the fact that the cabbage plant cannot tolerate the smell of onions. Therefore, it is recommended to place onion peels in holes when planting vegetables.
To prepare an infusion of onion peels from the mole cricket, you will need:
- 900 g onion peel;
- 10 liters of water.
How does a mole cricket react to kerosene?
There is also such a method of dealing with cabbage grass as scaring it off with kerosene. This simple method has been used by many generations of gardeners and has proven its effectiveness. It is based on the use of kerosene and sand.
The components are taken in the proportion of 1 kg of sand for each square meter of area and 50–70 ml of kerosene. If we are talking about a large garden, then this method is not very convenient. But it is very suitable for driving cabbage out of the greenhouse.
Pour kerosene over the sand and mix well. After which the sand is mixed with dry soil (several shovels of soil are taken). A mixture of sand, kerosene and soil is used when planting plants and seedlings: it is scattered over the garden bed and mixed with the top layer of soil.
Kerosene and sand are also applied into the furrows along the perimeter of the greenhouses. Right there, around the perimeter, you can additionally stretch a rope dipped in kerosene, which is also effective in repelling the pest.
Sweet trap: making honey bait
To catch mole crickets, you can use a sweet trap using honey. This requires a glass jar or plastic container with smooth walls. The inside is coated with honey to about ¼ of the height so that there is sufficient aroma. After which the jar is buried level with the ground, a board, cardboard or piece of iron is placed on top. You need to leave a gap so that the mole cricket can crawl into the trap.
Attracted by the warmth and smell of honey, the mole cricket crawls into the jar and falls to the bottom. Periodically you need to check the trap and remove pests from it.
Important! In addition to catching mole crickets with honey, you can also catch them with beer. Beer has a specific smell that attracts these insects. In a jar buried in the groundat an angle of 45 degrees,beer is poured and the neck is covered with gauze. Attracted cabbage mushrooms gnaw through the gauze and end up in a trap jar. Reviews of the method say that it is very effective.
Rotten fish - an unpleasant but effective method
The mole cricket causes too much harm, so gardeners have invented many different methods to combat it. Some methods are not very pleasant for humans, but are nevertheless used because of their effectiveness. One of them is repelling cabbage weeds with rotten fish.
The mole cricket is a malicious omnivorous pest of the garden and vegetable garden. Belongs to the Orthoptera species, the mole cricket family. Close relatives are the cricket and the grasshopper. The popular name is cabbage, top, earthen crayfish. Loves well-fertilized and moist soils. It even eats the larvae of beetles, worms, and butterflies.
Description
A large insect, an adult reaches 5-6 cm. It consists of an abdomen and cephalothorax. At the end of the abdomen there are 2 pairs of thread-like appendages (cerci), the thoracic shell is quite hard with such a structure that the head can be partially hidden under it. On the head: two pairs of eyes, mustache-antennas, powerful gnawing jaws. The first of 6 pairs of legs resembles the paws of a mole in appearance and functionality, with which the insect digs. Adults have well-developed wings, which when folded are longer than the body size. It can fly short distances and in warm weather. The body color of the mole cricket is dark brown with a lighter belly.
Where does it winter
Individuals and their larvae overwinter in the soil in their vertical passages, in manure pits. After winter, the larvae differ from adults in having poorly developed wings. They become adults after the second summer of their life.
When appears
The mole cricket emerges from wintering in early spring, when the soil warms up to 12 degrees.
Reproduction
After waking up, the insect comes to the surface. To attract the chosen one for mating, the mole cricket begins to chirp (the sound is similar to a cricket). At the end of spring - at the beginning of summer, the female lays eggs in a dense nest, in a previously dug tunnel, in the amount of 200-600 eggs. The eggs are similar in size to millet grains, 3-3.5 mm in diameter, gray-yellow in color. It is not difficult to detect and destroy the nest, since it is dug by a mole cricket not like a normal straight path, but in a spiral with outflows so that the water does not flood the masonry. Also, there are no plants left above the nest - the pest eats up all the roots so that the eggs are warmed up as much as possible by the sun. The larvae are born within 2 weeks. To become an adult she needs to shed 8-9 times. Insects of the first year of life look like light spiders, but with only 6 pairs of legs.
Signs of damage
It can be recognized by its characteristic loose lumps of soil and burrows 1-1.5 cm in diameter. After rain in the evening, traces of the pest coming out are clearly visible, since during the day it leads an underground lifestyle. When a mole cricket digs its tunnels, it damages the root system of almost all plants that it encounters on its way, eats up roots, tubers and seeds, and destroys seedlings. A damaged plant inevitably dies.
Fighting a mole cricket
How to get rid of a mole cricket? There is no reliable method of destroying the pest, but it is possible to significantly reduce its population or scare it away.
Traditional methods:
1) Trap pits, at the end of July - August they are dug, covered with oilcloth, filled not to the top with unrotted manure and covered with straw. The mole crickets gather there for the winter, and closer to winter they can be scattered to freeze or burned along with the manure. The same holes can be dug in May in order to collect not only mole crickets from the site, but also their clutches of eggs;
2) Pieces of plywood are laid out in the sun, mole crickets crawl out under them to bask, then they are collected and destroyed;
3) They dig into jars, put spoiled jam, compote or honey at the bottom, at night the pest gets into the jar, then it is exterminated;
4) Grind eggshells, mix with vegetable oil and pour into holes or spread around plants;
5) Sow marigolds around the area, scatter alder leaves, pine needles, calendula, parsley, garlic, the smell of which the insect cannot tolerate;
6) Place pipes with a propeller in the area - the sound is scary;
7) Beer trap: 100 gr. pour beer into 0.5 l. cover a bottle with a narrow neck with gauze and dig it at an angle of 45 degrees to the surface of the soil. After a week, you will see insects at the bottom that you could not pick out from the trap;
8) Dig up fresh fish near the bushes before planting; when the plant sprouts, the fish will go rotten, and the mole cricket will not approach this place;
9) Ultrasonic repellers that work constantly so that the pest does not return;
10) Water the soil with diluted bird droppings during hot weather.
Chemical methods:
1) Insecticides, following the instructions (usually organophosphate insecticides) Karbofos, Medvedox;
2) Food bait treated with diazine, which is buried shallowly in the soil and moistened with sunflower oil;
3) Chlorophos, but it should be remembered that it is too toxic and plants treated with it are not entirely edible. It can be replaced with washing powder (2 tablespoons per 10 liters - pour into minks);
4) Kerosene (1 tbsp per 10 liters);
5) Use of biological drugs that cause diseases in insects.
Prevention
Deep autumn and spring plowing;
Treatment of planting material with a disinfectant (Aktara, Prestige);
Loosening the soil after watering;
Do not feed the soil and vegetation with fresh mullein;
Attracting birds, hedgehogs, toads, ground beetles to the site.
The mole cricket is a formidable enemy of the garden. When an insect with powerful wings and a hard shell appears, the owners understand: it’s time to push other matters into the background and start fighting the cabbage fly.
It is possible to get rid of earthen cancer only with an integrated approach to the destruction of the pest. Experienced gardeners share their secrets of fighting mole crickets.
Reasons for appearance
A well-groomed area with a variety of vegetable crops and shrubs attracts dangerous insects. The pest feasts on young greens, tubers, and roots. The more work the owner puts into growing a rich harvest, the higher the risk that the cabbage plant will choose this particular garden.
Loose, well-fertilized soil, in which it is convenient to burrow and make passages, is another reason why the mole cricket lives in the gardens of caring owners. The mole cricket insect is picky and does not eat weeds. For this reason, the pest never settles in abandoned areas.
How to recognize
The popular name for the mole cricket is cabbage mole cricket: the creature willingly eats succulent leaves and heads of cabbage. It is no coincidence that the pest is called differently - earthen cancer. It’s easy to understand why gardeners dubbed the insect this way.
What does a bear look like? Characteristics:
- the body is covered with a hard brown shell, reminiscent of the chitinous cover of crustaceans;
- an adult cabbage plant cannot be crushed with your fingers, unlike many beetles and larvae;
- powerful front legs with projections, mustaches, processes at the end of the abdomen similar to a stove grip, and a large head give the insect a formidable appearance. The creature, dangerous for the garden, resembles a smaller copy of a monster from science fiction films;
- with an abundance of food, adults grow up to 5–6 cm;
- Mole cricket larvae are large, milky white with spots on the sides. The appearance is unpleasant - a fat individual with short legs, powerful jaws and a yellow-brown head;
- wings allow an adult mole cricket to fly from one garden to another in search of food;
- the female lays up to a hundred or more eggs. If the owner does not notice the appearance of a mole cricket in time in the garden, you can forget about a good harvest: the omnivorous insect, which has bred on the plot, gnaws on tubers, roots of shrubs, and greens.
Harm
The main problem is the omnivorous nature of the earthen crayfish. Few insects destroy so many underground parts of plants in the garden.
Cabbage weed eats:
- potatoes;
- roots of shrubs;
- carrots;
- eggplants;
- radishes;
- beets;
- cabbage;
- radish;
- hemp;
- tomatoes;
- pepper;
- parsley roots;
- many flowers.
Another unpleasant moment is that the mole cricket breaks through multi-level passages in the soil. The cabbage weed spends most of its time underground in search of food.
An insect with powerful jaws is not stopped by the roots of trees and bushes: the mole cricket gnaws through everything in its path. If several individuals have settled on the site, voracious larvae have appeared, most of the area at different depths will be covered with burrows and underground passages.
The mole cricket actively reproduces, laying dozens of eggs inside the tunnels. The larvae living in the “chambers” actively gnaw on roots and tubers and help the adults destroy plants in the area.
On a note! The pest overwinters in the ground. The insect digs deep burrows closer to the roots of plants in order to immediately feed on young roots and tubers in early spring. Experienced gardeners recommend destroying the insect in the fall and spring, before the cabbage plant has time to actively reproduce.
How to fight: effective methods
How to get rid of a mole cricket? The main principle is attention to the garden throughout the year. Only with this approach can you get rid of the mole cricket forever. Preventive measures and proper soil cultivation are required to protect the site from the penetration of cabbage grass.
When crayfish appears in the garden, you need to sound the alarm. With insufficient attention to the problem, owners lose most of the harvest. Agrotechnical measures reduce the risk of the pest remaining undisturbed on the site.
Traps
You can catch a dangerous insect if you know the behavioral characteristics and preferences of the earthen crayfish. The owners offer several types of homemade traps with high efficiency.
How to make a trap for cabbage:
- manure traps. Pests like to overwinter inside warm, loose areas of natural fertilizer. To catch the cabbage weed, dig a hole whose depth, width and length are 50 cm. All that remains is to fill the space with manure and wait until frost hits. At temperatures below zero, dig holes and scatter manure around the garden. Harmful insects in a state of hibernation quickly die from the cold. In the spring, the owners find many eggs in a manure trap, which are easy to destroy;
- beer traps. The earthen crayfish willingly climbs into a container filled with an intoxicating drink. Setting up a catch container: take a dozen glass jars with a volume of 0.5 liters, dig them into the ground up to the neck, and fill one third with beer. Cover the trap with a board, leaving a small gap (up to 1.5 cm) so that the pest can easily climb inside. The owners’ task is to look inside beer cans and collect any pests that come across;
- shadow traps. The method is based on the insect's love for warm places. The mole cricket willingly basks in the sun, looking for areas where it is warmer. To create suitable conditions, place pieces of dark-colored material in sunny areas in the garden. Place bait, such as cut potatoes, under the bags or cloth. The material heats up and the food attracts pests. A combination of factors makes it easier for owners to catch insects: you just need to lift the dark material and collect the cabbage mushrooms.
Folk remedies
The mole cricket has been annoying gardeners for a long time. The owners invented several methods to protect the crop from pest attack. You will need available materials, inexpensive components and patience.
Protection against cabbageweed: four proven methods:
- barrier made of a plastic bottle. An effective product requires virtually no cost for the manufacture of protective devices: you will need old plastic containers. The owner’s task is to cut the bottle into rings and secure it in the ground near the young plant. The edge of the plastic ring should rise 3–4 cm above the ground surface. Plastic is a material that even such a formidable pest as the mole cricket cannot cope with;
- soap solution against cabbage. Good effect with a minimum of financial and time expenditure. You will need laundry or liquid soap for a bucket of water; washing powder will do. Average proportions are 50 g of synthetic product or 10–20 g of soap. Walk around the garden, find holes where the mole cricket is hiding, pour soapy water into the holes. You shouldn’t prepare a product that is too strong: it is important to remember that in the ground there is not only a pest, but also tubers and plant roots;
- vegetable oil from pests. Experienced gardeners do this: pour half a teaspoon of a natural product (preferably sunflower, unrefined) into the hole and add water from a hose. Insects do not really like swimming in oily liquid, they die or get out, where they are easy to catch;
- nylon stockings to protect the roots. A little strange, but effective method. A prerequisite is to put on a protective device while the roots are small. When a flower or vegetable grows, the roots will remain inside the stocking; the earthen crayfish will not get close to them. Thin roots growing through the mesh will be gnawed by the mole cricket, but against the backdrop of the development of more powerful, strong roots, damage to small elements will not cause noticeable harm to the plant.
Chemicals
Toxic agents are needed if traditional methods are not effective enough. With active reproduction of cabbage grass, it is impossible to catch all the insects and destroy numerous eggs and larvae.
Modern pesticides are available to help gardeners. When the compositions are used correctly, 60–90% of adults, eggs and larvae die. Granular baits with toxic components are eaten by mole crickets and die. The compositions are sold in specialized stores for gardeners, hypermarkets, and household chemicals departments.
Effective drugs:
- Thunder.
- Phenaxin Plus.
- Medvegon.
- Grizzly.
- Medvetox.
- Rembek.
Rules of application:
- identify the habitats of harmful insects;
- put 3-4 granules in the passages made by insects underground;
- Sprinkle the product over all places where earthen crayfish settles. Particular attention to beds and manure heaps;
- important point– sprinkle the granules of the toxic drug with a layer of earth so that instead of the mole cricket, the poisoned bait is not eaten by pets or birds.
Warning! Drugs to combat cabbage grass belong to the high and medium toxicity classes; precautions are required for the owner. Lay out the granules using rubber gloves and wear a respirator or medical mask. After the procedure, be sure to wash your hands with soap, rinse your mouth, and wash your face.
Ultrasonic insect repellers
A good method for protecting an area. The device emits high-frequency waves, the pests experience discomfort, rush around the garden, and gradually leave the place unfavorable for existence. The device works 24 hours a day, its constant effect on the nervous system of insects is sure to give results. Usually mole crickets leave the area after a couple of weeks.
Popular brands:
- Hail.
- Riddex.
- Typhoon.
The result will appear when you install repellers together with your neighbors. If the device breaks down, the pests will quickly move into the garden, lay eggs, and the process will begin again. The use of insect repellers in several areas in the neighborhood guarantees reliable protection from the earthen “monster”.
Prevention of occurrence
- In the fall, be sure to remove dry leaves, branches that have fallen from trees, debris, and crop residues from the soil surface. With this approach, it is easier to search for and destroy pests remaining in the soil for the winter;
- Be sure to dig the soil to a sufficient depth so that the pests freeze in the cold. Surface tillage does not destroy burrows formed for wintering. Plowing the site early is also a bad method: insects have time to prepare a new shelter for wintering before the cold weather;
- After loosening the soil to prepare the area for winter, many pests come out, disturbed by the plowing of the garden. The mole cricket is looking for shelter and food. At this point, it is easy to lure pests with manure traps. The pests will get inside and make themselves comfortable. When frost hits, you need to dig holes and spread manure. Ground crayfish in a state of suspended animation cannot burrow into the ground and freeze;
- the next stage is filling the manure traps with a new portion of natural material. A simple technique will attract individuals that have safely overwintered in the soil. You can’t touch the pits with manure until spring. Before preparing the garden for planting, pour flammable liquid over each hole and burn the traps along with the pests remaining inside;
- When planting plants, it is advisable to treat the seed material with preparations, Masterpiece or Prestige. Soak the roots of the seedlings before planting in the ground, and spray the potatoes before planting them in holes;
- Add a ball of poisonous bait to the holes with seedlings and seed potatoes. It’s easy to prepare the remedy for mole crickets: boil the millet, add the preparation BI - 58 (proportions - 1:1), leave the mixture for 12 hours, spread it over the wells.
When a dangerous pest with powerful wings and jaws appears, many owners panic and don’t know how to get rid of the mole cricket forever. Recommendations from experienced gardeners and knowledge of traditional methods for destroying cabbage grass are a good help in the fight against earthen cancer. When the pest actively reproduces, effective chemicals help. Correct agrotechnical measures disrupt the calm existence of mole crickets in the garden.
The following video contains more useful information about what a mole cricket looks like and how to protect your garden from insects:
Latin name: Gryllotalpa gryllotalpa
Russian name: Mole cricket
Pest type: Polyphagous pest
Row: Orthoptera - Orthoptera
Distributed in all zones on well-moistened, including irrigated, lands. Polyphage. Damages: cereals - rice, wheat, rye, barley, corn, oats, etc.; legumes - peas, vetch, lentils, beans; perennial herbs; beets, potatoes, carrots, cabbage, watermelons, melons, cucumbers, pumpkin, onions, radishes, eggplants, tomatoes, peppers, groundnuts, sunflowers, flax, tobacco, strawberries; in nurseries and young orchards - apple, pear, plum, cherry, sweet cherry, apricot, peach; oak, beech, poplar, willow, pine, spruce and many other plants. It also feeds on many soil invertebrates, including harmful insects and earthworms.
Adult, yellowish below. Body length - 35 - 50 mm. The forelegs are short, widened, and strongly serrated. The hind tibia have 3 - 4 spines on the inside. The elytra are short, reaching half the length of the abdomen, and leathery. The wings are developed, transparent, with a dense network of veins, in a calm state they are folded in the form of flagella protruding beyond the end of the abdomen.
The egg is 3 - 3.5 mm in diameter, in size and shape it resembles millet grain, dark, with a light brown coating and a greenish sheen. The larvae are adult-like, up to 15 mm in instar I, up to 20 in instar II, up to 25 in instar III, and 35 mm in instar IV. The number of antennae is 34, 70, 85 and 100, respectively. In larvae of the fourth instar, wing primordia appear at least 2 mm long; after the fifth and sixth molt they reach 7 - 8 mm. It lives in the surface layer of soil in burrows and only occasionally appears on the surface: late in the evening and at night it makes short flights.
Swims well and can overcome significant water obstacles. During a flood, in stumps, remnants of haystacks and haystacks, entire broods are transported by water over long distances.
Natural habitats are moist and rich in humus or humus, biotopes, coastal areas of lakes, places with high groundwater levels, irrigated or well-fertilized fields. Often inhabits garden plots. Winter passages are laid at considerable depth. In adults they reach 50 - 100 cm, and in larvae - 20 - 50 cm deep. In winter, mole crickets can be found in manure or humus.
Overwintering of adult insects, nymphs and larvae. They leave their wintering grounds at different times, depending on weather conditions. They appear in the upper layers when the soil at a depth of 20 - 30 cm warms up to 8 - 10 ° C. Mass emergence and the onset of feeding is observed at a temperature of 12 - 15 ° C. In the spring, after mating, the female digs a special earthen chamber at a depth of 10 - 20 cm , where it lays up to 360 eggs. The larvae are reborn in June - July. As they settle, they dig underground passages and gnaw through the roots of plants, and in the second half of summer they gnaw out hollows in the roots of beets, carrots, potato tubers and other plants.
The mole cricket is especially dangerous in early spring, when it feeds on young plants. In August - September its population consists of larvae of the 3rd - 4th centuries and adult insects. However, a number of young larvae go to winter. The full development cycle of the common mole cricket in the Forest-Steppe of Russia lasts about two years, in the northern part - even longer.
Protection measures
In greenhouses, baits made from boiled grains of corn, wheat and barley are used to kill mole crickets. For 1 kg of barley take 30 g of sunflower oil and 50 g of insecticide. Bait in the amount of 30 - 50 g per frame is evenly wrapped in the soil to a depth of 2 - 3 cm. In household plots, mole crickets are caught using fishing pits.
Fishing pits 60–80 cm deep are filled with manure (preferably horse manure) in the fall, where insects gather for the winter. In cold weather, manure is thrown out of the pits and distributed over the ground in a thin layer. At low temperatures, mole crickets die. The mole cricket does not damage plants if you throw a clove of garlic into the holes before planting.
With this article we are starting a new series of materials devoted to household pests. The topic of a number of subsequent articles is the mole cricket, an insect that lives all over the world and can cause some harm, both in private residential buildings and in the garden. In this material we will talk about where the mole cricket lives, what its life cycle is, what it eats and other information describing this type of insect. In subsequent materials we will begin to study ways to combat mole crickets in the house and garden.
General summary
This type of pest belongs to the insect family Gryllotalpidae. For those who have seriously decided to engage in baiting, it is useful to know that the mole cricket belongs to the order Orthoptera, the same as grasshoppers, locusts and crickets.
The insects are large insects with a cylindrical body shape, about 3-5 centimeters in length, have small eyes and spade-shaped forelimbs that are excellent for digging. Mole crickets are present in many parts of the world, and where the agro-industrial complex is well developed, they can become serious agricultural pests.
This insect species has three life stages - egg, nymph and adult. At these stages, the mole cricket spends most of its life underground, however, during the breeding season, adult insects of both sexes can fly over fairly long distances with the help of well-developed wings.
The species of mole crickets are very distinguishable from each other by their diet. Some are completely vegetarian, feeding primarily on roots, while others are omnivores, using worms and grubs in their diet. In addition, some species are largely predatory.
Males have exceptionally loud vocalizations and “sing” using so-called subsurface vents that open into the external environment in the form of an exponential horn. The “song” of the mole cricket is an almost pure tone, somewhat modulated into a chirp. Males use these sounds to attract females, either to mate, or to indicate favorable places for laying eggs, a kind of male attention to procreation.
In different countries, mole crickets have different folklore and culinary properties. For example, in Zambia, mole crickets are believed to bring good luck, while in Latin America, they are believed to predict rain. But in West Java, Vietnam and the Philippines, some species of mole crickets are widely used as food.
More information about the appearance of mole crickets
Mole crickets vary in size and appearance, but most are medium to large in size, characteristic of an insect - from 3.2 to 3.5 cm along the length of their body. insects are adapted for life in the ground and have a cylindrical body shape covered with small, dense hairs. The head, forelimbs and prothorax are strongly sclerotized, which gives the insect sufficient body strength, but the abdomen is quite soft. The head has two thread-like antennae and a pair of beady eyes.
Two pairs of wings are folded flat over the abdominal cavity. In most species, the fore wings are short and rounded, and the hind wings are membranous and reach or exceed the edge of the abdominal cavity. However, in some species the hind wings are reduced in size and the insect cannot fly.
The front legs are well adapted for digging, but they are very similar to cockroaches and are more used for moving the massive body of the insect. However, these limbs are better suited for pushing the soil rather than jumping, which mole crickets do rarely and poorly. The larvae are similar to adults, except for the absence of wings and genitals, which are formed with each subsequent molt.
Some features of mole cricket biology
Adults of most species of mole crickets are able to fly confidently, but not with the same dexterity as other flying insects, and males fly extremely rarely. Females tend to fly shortly after sunset and are attracted to areas where males begin their long trill, which they vocalize for about an hour after sunset. As noted above, females fly towards this sound to mate or lay eggs.
Stages of mole cricket development
Mole crickets, in the process of their development, experience incomplete metamorphoses. When mole cricket larvae hatch from their eggs, they increasingly resemble adults as they grow and go through a series of about ten molts. After mating, there may be a period of one or two weeks before the female begins to lay eggs. To do this, it burrows into the soil to a depth of 30 cm. 72 cm is a result that was noticed in laboratory conditions.
After burrowing, females lay 25 to 60 eggs. When a mole cricket lays eggs, there are some specific features at the end of this process. For example, the Neoscapteriscus species are then removed, sealing the entrance passage to the burrow, but the female Gryllotalpa and Neocurtilla species remain in the burrow until the larvae hatch. At what depth the mole cricket lives also depends on the quality of the soil itself, for example, on wet black soil, the insect can be found at a depth of 5-10 cm, and on dry sandstones - up to 15 cm.
The humidity of the earth plays an important role in the process of procreation of mole crickets. The eggs must be laid in moist soil, otherwise many nymphs die immediately after hatching due to lack of moisture. The eggs hatch over several weeks, and as they grow, the nymphs consume large amounts of plant material, either directly in the burrow or periodically crawling to the surface.
It is worth noting that when mole crickets breed, adults of some species are able to move considerable distances, up to 8 kilometers during the breeding season. Mole crickets are active most of the year. Nymphs and adults are able to overwinter in cold climates, resuming activity in the spring. The mole cricket overwinters at a slightly greater depth, preferring places with higher humidity. In hot countries, mole crickets are active all year round.
Burrowing abilities
Mole crickets live almost entirely underground, digging tunnels of varying depths and lengths to support their basic life activities, including feeding, avoiding predators, fertilization and growth.
Mole crickets are known for their digging abilities. Their main tunnels are used for feeding and for escape. They can burrow into the ground very quickly, find one of their old tunnels and move along them at high speed, both forward and backward.
Their digging technique is very successful - insects scatter the soil in both directions with the help of their powerful shovel-limbs, which are wide, flattened, jagged and very rigid.
Mating takes place in the male's burrow. Before starting his "song", the male can widen the tunnel to make room for the female, but for some species this is not required - mating takes place tail to tail. Females lay their eggs either in their regular burrows or in specially dug brood chambers.
Vocal features
As already mentioned, only the male mole cricket has vocal abilities, which are used to attract females for mating or laying eggs. Before this, the males dig a separate burrow, which may or may not be connected to other passages dug in the ground. The male's burrow always has the shape of a double exponential horn, which forms an effective resonator, thereby amplifying the sound of singing.
The male's chirp is an almost pure tone of 3.5 kilohertz, loud enough to vibrate the top layer of the earth within a radius of at least 20 cm.
The geometric characteristics of the mole cricket burrow vary from species to species. The common mole cricket digs with somewhat rough contours, but in the species Gryllotalpa vineae the hole is smooth and regular cylindrical in shape, without any irregularities larger than 1 millimeter. In both species, the burrow takes the form of a double exponential horn with two holes on the soil surface. In the area of the second hole there is a narrowing and then widening in the form of a resonating “onion”. It is worth noting that mole crickets, both males and females, use their burrows for no more than a week.
The volume of a male's "song" correlates with body size and habitat quality. In fact, it is the characteristic of sound that is an indicator of male attractiveness. The loudest males can attract 20 females in one evening, while the quieter males are unable to attract a single female and will have to spend the next night alone.
What mole crickets eat in the garden - nutritional features
Mole crickets vary in their diet - they can be herbivorous, omnivorous, or exclusively carnivorous, such as the southern mole cricket. Insects feed on roots found in the ground, and they are also able to leave their burrows at night to find leaves and stems for themselves, which they drag into the burrow before directly consuming them, sometimes. The lifestyle of mole crickets can significantly harm agriculture.
Enemies of the mole cricket
A separate predator that attacks mole cricket eggs in China and Japan is the bombardier beetle Stenaptinus jessoensis. An adult beetle lays eggs near the insect's burrow, and subsequently the beetle larvae find their way to the egg chamber of the burrow and eat the mole cricket eggs.
Fungal diseases can devastate mole cricket populations during the winter before the thaw occurs. The fungus Beauveria bassiana can infect adults, completely destroying their body. Other fungal, microsporidian and viral pathogens may also be involved in this process.
In general, mole crickets easily elude predators by living underground and burrowing vigorously if they feel threatened by something on the surface. As a last line of defense, mole crickets spray foul-smelling brown liquid from their anal glands at their enemy when captured. In addition, they can bite.
Spreading
Mole crickets are nocturnal insects and spend almost their entire lives underground in extensive tunnel systems. They are most abundant in agricultural areas and grassy areas.
The mole cricket is found everywhere, it can be found on all continents, with the exception of Antarctica. By early 2014, 107 different species of mole crickets had been described and there is a high chance that many more species will be discovered, especially in Asia. Neoscapteriscus didactylus is one of the most widespread pests that plague agriculture in South America, the West Indies and New South Wales in Australia. The African mole cricket is a major pest in South Africa. Other species are widespread in Europe, Asia and Australia.
How do mole crickets harm you?
Mole crickets are enemies of plants. Most of the damage caused by these insects is the result of their digging activities. By digging their tunnels to a depth of several centimeters in the soil, they push out the soil in small ridges, increasing the evaporation of surface moisture, which greatly disrupts seed germination and damages the fine roots of young seedlings. In addition, mole crickets are harmful to turf and lawn grass because the insects feed on grass roots, causing plants to dry out and reduce yield.